World Data Centres

Presently, there are six GAW WDCs each responsible for archiving one or more GAW measurement parameters or measurement types. They are operated and maintained by their individual host institutions. They collect, document and archive atmospheric measurements and the associated metadata from measurement stations world-wide and make these data freely available to the scientific community. In some cases, WDCs also provide additional products including data analyses, maps of data distributions, and data summaries.

The data residing in the WDCs are always subject to change, for example, from new calibrations. For this reason, data providers at individual stations should always be contacted directly for detailed information on such changes. In order that data providers be given appropriate recognition, scientists accessing the data are required to accept the following conditions set forth by the CAS WG and supported by the Thirteenth Session of CAS: "For scientific purposes, access to these data is unlimited and provided without charge. By their use you accept that an offer of co-authorship will be made through personal contact with the data providers or owners whenever substantial use is made of their data. In all cases, an acknowledgement must be made to the data providers or owners and the data centre when these data are used within a publication."